We’ve already announced that auto sales are falling fast, and those sales are expected to stay low. As sales shrink, platinum and palladium join the leap to the deep end. Used in auto catalysts, both precious metals play a role in car manufacturing; in fact, the market for each derives a 60 percent slice from […]

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Although the agency remains skeptical about manipulations in the silver market, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission took the stage earlier this week and announced plans to investigate the market. As silver prices fell throughout the summer, investors insisted that foul play was behind the price drop. These complaints from investors and stalwarts, convinced that “the truth” is […]

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During the weeks ahead, analysts expect to see a merger and acquisition pandemic among precious metals companies. As gold regains long-term luster and financial markets experience pandemonium, certain mining companies could experience takeovers, inspiring what Blackmont Capital’s Richard Gray calls “an unprecedented increase in M&A activity.”

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Congress doubts certain bailout talks, retirees have been hit with investment issues, and Sarah Palin is finally meeting some world leaders. Sure, there’s plenty of hard-hitting news to cover today. But this afternoon, let’s take a break from the CNN homepage, and instead focus on a question that’s plagued you for years: Where do precious […]

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The German Central Bank is on record saying they look on their gold reserves as a source of stability and confidence in the single currency. Germany’s Bundesbank on Friday rejected calls from the country’s labor unions that it should sell some of its gold reserves to help boost the slowing German economy. The Bundesbank is the world’s […]

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Platinum, that classic white metal, ended last week with some significant gains. Companies don’t seem worried about the old “No white after Labor Day!” advice. Comex prices for October finished Thursday at $1484, a remarkable three percent increase.
The dramatic increase partially came from traders, who saw a chance earlier this week to purchase the white […]

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This is an interesting story on two levels.
On the first level, it is fascinating to see how niche businesses like pawnbroking have also been affected by the rise in gold prices. H&T, the UK’s largest pawn broker, typically disposes of about a fifth of its stock as scrap but with Gold prices at record levels last year […]

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As the first and shortest of a three part article this week we would like to take a mid year pause and review how the metal markets have moved and where we expect they will go during the balance of this year and next.
Gold and silver have both dropped, 33% and 22% respectively from their […]

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Late last week, platinum prices hit their lowest mark since January, trading at $1,622 an ounce. This comes as a surprise after the first half of the year, when platinum gained 25.6 percent, mirroring similar gains in palladium, which increased 82.3 percent, and rhodium, which increased 42 percent. After those six months, however, remarkable lows […]

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I was intrigued reading a Reuters report on Mineweb covering the projected rise in platinum prices to find out to what extent palladium was driven by the same fundamentals. The report forecast rising palladium prices next year due to the (as with platinum) power shortages in South Africa and the reduced sales from dwindling Russian reserves. […]

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